Split Spark
by Moosche
Summary: Four sutobots crash land on Earth to escape the Decepticons. A pair of twins, one with an unusual skill and another with a flaw and a history that could put their guardian in the stockades for life.
1. Chapter 1

_**Crash landing**_

"Optimus!" Prowl suddenly shouted from the main monitor, causing Bumblebee and Bulkhead to jump and lose concentration, losing the game. "We have a Decepticon ship heading towards Detroit fast."

"Do we know who it is?" Optimus asked, now standing beside Prowl.

"No. but it doesn't look like much of a threat." Prowl replied, tapping a few more keys to zoom in on the out of control ship. "There's a signal coming from it."

"Open it up." Optimus instructed.

Prowl accessed the signal quickly, the rest of the team gathering to hear what it was saying.

"_Mayday! Mayday! We're a group of four Autobots trying to escape the Decepticon Blitzwing. We've lost one out of our three engines and are falling fast. Oh where are they?"_

"Patch me onto the frequency!" Optimus commanded, worried for the four's safety. "This is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots stationed here. I'm advising you to head towards the water. It'll be a softer landing."

"_Our steering is a little off at the moment but we'll try our best." _

"Ok. We'll-" Optimus started saying before Lugnut butted in.

"You shall not escape us this time!" he bellowed before launching a baron of missiles at them.

The Autobot cursed in cybertronian as he saw the missiles on the radar.

"_mayday! We have to younglings aboard this ship! I repeat! WE HAVE YOUNGLINGS ON BOARD THIS SHIP!"_

"Autobots! Roll out immediately!" Optimus commanded.

The team transformed and raced as fast as they could to save the ship. Once they heard that there were two younglings on board, they were instantly worried about the safety of the four. As they sped to the sea, they could see both Blitzwing and Lugnut firing at the damaged ship. The purple ship had just managed to get above the water when Blitzwing had the great idea of flying _through_ the ship, snapping it in half. The engines of the ship exploded in the air before dropping to the water in a ball of flames. The helpless Autobots could only watch until they got close enough to help. The police force and Sari had gathered at the water's edge, keeping the curious people away.

"Guys!" Sari shouted to the transforming Autobots. "What's going on?"

"A small team of Autobots stole a Decepticon ship to escape." Optimus replied. "Ratchet, stay up here. They may be injured. The rest of you with me!"

"After that attack, I have no doubt that they'll be seriously wounded." Ratchet mumbled to himself.

The four dived into the water, sinking to the bottom. They looked around the scattered ship parts, some black from the explosion. They swam around, moving the debris to find the missing bots, trying to hurry in case some were almost critical. However, they weren't having much luck in the search.

"Boss bot!" Bulkhead shouted.

Optimus swam over to Bulkhead, hearing a whining creak as Bulkhead lifted a large part of the wing above an unconscious femme. Optimus gently pulled her out and quickly swam to the surface to give her to Ratchet to check over her. The Prime gently lowered the small femme to the floor on the quiet boardwalk, in front of Ratchet. Ratchet instantly dropped to his knees, scanning the femme for injuries. As he did that, Bulkhead resurfaced with a much larger mech over his shoulder, followed by Prowl and Bumblebee.

"We can't find the other two." Prowl informed sadly.

"At least you saved two!" Sari tried to help.

"But we could've saved them all!" Optimus sighed.

Ratchet had managed to online the femme, who instinctively jumped back in alarm at the strange face. She jumped to her feet, unsheathing a replica to Optimus's axe. She waved the axe at Optimus when he got closer to comfort her. Optimus pulled out his own axe, frowning at how she had a similar one.

"Laser-eye. Calm down." The other Autobot said softly to the femme.

"What have you done to my sister and my guardian?" Laser-eye spat.

"Nothing." Optimus replied, putting away his axe and holding his hands up in defence. "We tried searching . . ."

"You didn't look hard enough!" she spat and went to dive in the water, but the larger mech was much faster, even for his size, and stopped her, wrapping his arms around her. "Crash! Let. Me. Go!"

"ZiZi is with her. She'll be fine," Crash reassured the panicking bot.

"_Prowl to Optimus."_

"Prowl? Where are you?" Optimus frowned, only now noticing that he had vanished.

"_there's a warehouse a few blocks away on fire. I found two life signals coming from it when i scouted around the edge. One of the signals are low."_

"We're on our way!" Optimus shut off the com link. "Prowl has found them."

The team raced to the burning building, with Laser-eye running in front. Crash had to try and run faster to prevent her from heading into the building. The flames lapped six foot above the high roof of the building.

"Help the fire department douse the flames, I'm going in." Optimus ordered.

As soon as he entered the building, he felt the intense heat slap him in the face. He used his extinguishers in his arms to create a path, occasionally being sprayed by the fire department outside. As he scouted around, he found no sign of Prowl. But he was following the weak life signal. The heat was making it unbearable as his systems tried to cool down his frame. He eventually spotted Prowl on a beam above his head. He looked like he was talking to someone, or coaxing them towards him.

"Prowl!" Optimus shouted up.

"_There's a white bot under the rubble in front of you, he's got a low spark pulse but I can't get to him. I'm trying to get one of the younglings from this beam up here."_

"Got it." Optimus nodded and sprayed the rubble with water before trying to move it.

After failing to move the large beams with his servos, he got out his axe and slashed his way through the rubble. He quickly found the damaged, black, white and blue Autobot. He carefully put the Autobot over his shoulder, being careful of any injuries the bot may have sustained. He sprinted out using the path he had made into the bright sunshine. He carefully and gently lowered the mech to the floor in front of Ratchet, who was instantly trying to stop the energon leaking out. Laser-eye and Crash knelt beside their injured comrade, with Crash wrapping an arm around the femmes shoulders as she touched the damaged mech's shoulder.

But no one expected the warehouse to explode in a ball of flames and collapse to the ground.

"PROWL!" Optimus shouted.

As the dust and smoke settled, still floating up towards the sky, a dark figure emerged from the smoke. Prowl carried the other young femme in his arms, who clung to Prowl tightly.

"8-bit!" Laser –eye cheered in relief.

8-bit timidly turned her head towards the sound of her name. Her yellow and blue optics jumping from bot to bot and from human to human, tightening her grip on Prowl's neck in fear.

"They won't hurt you. They're my friends." Prowl reassured softly.

After that, she loosened her grip on him, letting him out her down. She soon fell to her knees in front of Ratchet, frowning in worry at their team mate.

"He's stable. But we better get him back to base to be repaired properly." Ratchet suggested.

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><p><strong>whoo!<strong>

**new story**

** need to control my imagination sometimes!**

**xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**I finally updated something that took me forever to type up**

**sorry for those who read it**

**:S**

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><p><em><strong>Explanations<strong>_

Back at the Autobot base, Ratchet was busy repairing each of the crash survivors. ZiZi had to worst of the injuries. He had suffered a broken support servo, dented helm, and a few holes in his main torso. ZiZi was a sky blue mech with a black line down his torso, like Jazz, and black arm and leg guards. He was no taller than Prowl, maybe an inch taller. Crash was the biggest out of the four newcomers, only slightly smaller than Optimus. Both were a similar build, except that Crash had more upper body strength from working on the construction sites. Crash was also a purple colour with a hint of grey in parts. He only suffered a few dents and a twisted arm. Lazer-eye and 8-bit were identical twins, black, grey and gold/yellow in colour and around the same height as Prowl. The only difference between the twins is their optics. Lazer-eyes's right optic was blue and the other was yellow, but 8-bit's optics was the other way around. Lazer-eye only had a few dents and scratches, where 8-bit suffered from a few scratches, one dent on her shoulder and a burn from where she held onto the beam to stop herself from falling.

ZiZi was still in the med bay, recharging while the others were in the main room. Bumblebee was back playing his video games with Sari, Optimus stood to the side, Bulkhead was painting in the corner, Crash was also on the sofa next to Bumblebee, with Lazer-eye in front of him but 8-bit had disappeared and Prowl was meditating in his room.

"Crash. How did you manage to get the Decepticon ship?" Optimus asked.

"We originally had our own ship when the 'cons attacked our home. We were caught and taken hostage. Somehow, ZiZi got us all out and to a smaller ship and we escaped." Crash explained.

"Where did you used to live?" Optimus questioned, curious to find out more about the group of four.

"A small village, far from the main city. Where all the energon plants grew. Lots of farms. ZiZi and I owned one. I was an energon harvester and part time construction worker. ZiZi was the head of communications network. These two have been with us since they were about one stellar cycles old, no, older than that, can't remember now." Crash explained more, putting a large hand on Lazer-eye's helm gently.

"So they aren't yours or ZiZi's?" Optimus frowned

"No." Crash sighed. "But ZiZi is their legal guardian until they hit a certain year."

"In 3 stellar cycles." Lazer-eye added, interrupting Crash.

"He became their guardian because their sire vanished and their carrier was killed by a 'con. She had asked ZiZi personally to look after them. They were like brother and sister back then." Crash carried on.

"I'm sorry Lazer-eye." Optimus sighed.

"It's ok. I hardly remember my carrier. I can't even remember who my sire is." Lazer-eye shrugged/

"Where is your sister?" Crash asked.

Lazer-eye frowned, looking around. "I don't know. Probably nagging Ratchet or doing something stupid."

"Has anyone seen 8-bit?" Optimus asked to the rest of the group and over his com link to Prowl and Ratchet.

He received a chorus of no's apart from Prowl

"_She's with me. We have someone else with a love for nature."_

Optimus smiled at Prowl's answer. "She's with Prowl."

Prowl and 8-bit sat on the highest branches of the large tree, watching the birds fly over their heads. Prowl brought a bag out of his sub-space, pouring some into his servo.

"Watch this." He smiled and held his servo out.

8-bit's eyes curiously watched as Prowl held still while a bird flew into his hand. It perched on the grains and seeds in Prowl's servos. More joined it, making 8-bit smile in amusement. 8-bit took some of the seeds from the bag and held both her servos out. She squeaked in laughter as more birds landed on her own hands.

"These are what the organics call birds." Prowl explained. "They just mainly fly around above us all. Like the fliers back on Cybertron."

One bird squawked as it fought with another, making 8-bit jump in fright. She fell backwards a few feet before Prowl caught her foot before she hit a particularly large branch. He pulled her up to the branch he was on, not letting go of her until he knew she was safely on the branch.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly.

She nodded in response, looking worriedly at the floor.

"Can you talk?" Prowl asked, wondering if something was wrong as she hadn't said a word since she got to Earth.

She shook her head, casting her gaze to her feet.

"You're not the only one who's got a glitch." Prowl reassured. "This visor is to help me see properly through my optics."

8-bit's head lifted up to meet his gaze meekly.

"_Prowl. Tell 8-bit that ZiZi is awake if she wants to see him."_

"Will do." Prowl cut off Optimus and replayed the message to 8-bit

8-bit gratefully jumped out of the tree, easily landing on her feet. Prowl jumped a few seconds after she did, expecting to have to catch her or hold her steady. 8-bit suddenly wrapped her arms around Prowl's chest, hugging him tightly. The action caused Prowl to tense his frame in light surprise, but he soon relaxed and gently hugged her back. She let him go and jogged out to find ZiZi. But, she turned back to him at the doorway and waved. He waved back in response with a smile, watching her run off.


	3. Chapter 3

**__Sorry this took so long . . . **

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><p><strong><em><span>ZiZi<span>_**

The team, except Prowl, were all gathered in the med bay, crowding around the groggy mech. Bumblebee and Sari were asking questions, not giving anyone a break. So, after a scolding off Ratchet, they were escorted out of the room by Bulkhead. Crash helped ZiZi to sit up against the wall at the top of the berth. Ratchet had finally allowed Sari to use her key when the mech wouldn't stabilise. The first thing he asked for was Crash, who now teased him, before turning serious.

"But what happened after you dragged Lazer-eye to the bridge?" Crash asked.

"Well . . ." ZiZi slurred sleepily. "I figured 8-bit had hidden somewhere else in the ship so I just went to find her. While running back, caught Blitzwing's wing as he crashed through, tearing my side and then took the brunt of the fall for 8-bit. There was no possible way she'd survive a fall like that. Not with her small frame."

"You almost died." Lazer-eye mumbled.

"Hey, come here." ZiZi leaned forward, pulling her into a tight hug. "I'm still here and without injury anymore. I promised your carrier that I'd protect you both with my life."

"Where is 8-bit?" Crash asked.

"With Prowl." Optimus answered.

They all jumped when they all heard a crash coming from outside the room. The Autobots passed it off as just Bumblebee being an idiot. But Optimus still crept to the door to see. 8-bit had her hand raised to the handle, smiling innocently up at the leader.

"I know that smile. What have you done?" ZiZi asked suspiciously.

She just shrugged in response, looking between the bots.

"Why do you have skid marks up one support servo?" ZiZi smirked. "Couldn't stop again?"

8-bit nodded this time, holding out her arm that had a bucket stuck on her servo. Lazer-eye sighed in amusement at her sister. She was known for doing things like that back home.

"Great." Ratchet sighed. "Another bot to fix."

Ratchet took hold of the bucket using his two magnets and easily pulled the bucket off her servo. 8-bit twisted her servo around and wiggled her fingers to get the feeling back in the sensors.

"It usually takes us a few megacycles to get it off." Crash laughed. "Never stays still long enough, that one."

8-bit quite literally bounced up to ZiZi and pulled him into a tight hug. He giggled at the youngling's antics and hugged her back, gently rubbing her back strut.

"Bit, still sore here. Loosen the grip." ZiZi wheezed.

8-bit took a step back, curling her arms into herself, afraid that she'd hurt him. He tapped her jaw with his fist to make her smile and reassure that he was ok. She smiled widely and clapped her hands.

"I hate to break this up, but I need to have a word with you ZiZi." Optimus asked.

"ZiZi is not moving from that berth while he recovers, so we'll just have to move out." Ratchet ordered.

"Go explore the base. There must be somewhere where you haven't been." ZiZi motioned to the door.

8-bit smiled widely and run out the door first, with Lazer-eye, Crash and Ratchet following at amuch slower pace. ZiZi laughed at the femme as she once again skidded into the small storage cupboard. Lazer-eye shouted something to 8-bit, something about going the wrong way. All the two remaining mechs saw was a blur of black as she sped past the doorway.

"Does she do that often?" Optimus asked.

"Yeah, pretty much all the time." ZiZi smiled, "I swear there's something wrong with that processor of hers."

Optimus chuckled quietly. "I know it's a bit sudden but I need to talk about what's going to happen to you four."

ZiZi's amused expression fell to one of disappointment. "I know. When I'm repaired, we'll leave."

Optimus shook his head. "The opposite actually. You canal stay as long as you want. We may not have a lot of space but I can't just leave you all stranded in a strange place. Especially with two younglings."

ZiZi's smile returned to its full brightness. "Thank you."

"You don't stay anywhere long, do you?" Optimus frowned.

ZiZi laughed coldly. "Yeah. . . not many bots are fond of putting up with us. Especially when all they see is a flawed youngling who should be melted down."

"I thought they destroyed protoforms with a major disability." Optimus wondered out loud.

"They did. But I had taken the two and ran before they even found out how bad the flaw was." ZiZi mumbled. "Those glitches belong in the pit."

"I don't agree with it either. But unfortunately, it's the system and can't be changed." Optimus sighed.

ZiZi quickly changed the subject before he started to rant about it. "So, what planet did we crash on?"

"Earth, an organic planet." Optimus answered, glad he changed the subject.

"Cool. Oh and I suggest you let 8-bit explore more than the base" ZiZi smiled worriedly. "She'll get bored of the same scenery and go off to look for something new and get stuck somewhere. Back on the farm, she had fields to run off in."

"Crazy youngling." Optimus mumbled to himself.

"Complete opposite of her creators." ZiZi added.

"You know who her sire is?" Optimus frowned.

"The only one to." ZiZi smirked. "Thoughi'm sure that 8-bitand Lazer-eye could figure it out."

"Really?" Optimus frowned deeper. "Why not just tell them?"

"Because they wouldn't believe it. Especially Lazer-eye." ZiZi scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Prime!" Ratchet yelled as he ran into the med-bay. "One of the youngling's have disappeared."

"Look in all open spaces. Anything that would entertain a child." ZiZi advised. "8-bit never grew out of her sparkling stage at spark."

Optimus nodded to ZiZi before running out to find the runaway youngling.


	4. Chapter 4

_****___**I'm extremely sorry for the delay in updating this and then to give you a chapter that I don't really like. But oh well. I tried. **

**I hope you enjoy it**

**Please review how I'm doing**

**I'm not too happy with this story until further on when the action starts back up.**

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><p><em><strong>8-Bit causes havoc<strong>_

The Autobots had been searching for almost 3 hours for 8-bit, with no success. ZiZi, Crash and Lazer-eye sat in the med-bay, since they had no alt. forms yet, listening over the com link for any news. Lazer-eye was now pacing in the middle of the room while ZiZi was curled on his side, facing Crash, who sat on the stool next to the berth.

"How can you be so CALM?" Lazer-eye snapped at the two mechs.

"Because I know she'll come back." ZiZi sighed, closing his optic covers. "Just give her time."

"Do you think she's gone to Dinobot island?" Bulkhead asked.

"I hope not. Besides, how would she get there?" Optimus replied. "She's got to be around here somewhere."

They searched for another 2 hours, hoping that there would be no Decepticon attacks. They'd never find her otherwise. The five Autobots met in the car park of the central park to try and come up with a plan. A sound tore Prowl from the plan, turning to where he thought it had come from.

"Prowl?" Optimus called to get his attention back.

"I could've sworn I heard something." Prowl mumbled, frowning and turning back to the group.

Suddenly, the sound of something landing alerted the team. Spinning around, they found Blitzwing and Lugnut in the middle of the pond, surrounded by people running in all directions to get away from the giants. Random Blitzwing laughed, like the maniac he is, at the people. The Autobots immediately sprung into action, all attacking the two Decepticons at the same time. But somehow, the 'cons were better and had Prowl flung through a tree. Ratchet was held by Blitzwing at gunpoint and Bumblebee was held by his head by Lugnut.

"Where is the ship?" Ice Blitzwing asked. "Tell us and we will not harm your friends."

"We can't let them hurt them." Bulkhead mumbled to Optimus

"We can't let them know about the ship." Optimus whispered back.

Something hit Blitzwing's head, causing him to jerk forward and stumble.

"What was that?" Hothead Blitzwing shouted, pounding his fists against the floor.

"Who dares attack the mighty Decepticons?" Lugnut roared.

A loud clang echoed as the roundabout hit the side of Lugnut's head. The con growled and swiftly turned to whoever threw it.

"Show yourself!" he roared again.

Blitzwing fell onto his back just after he got back up as 8-bit swung a lamppost against the back of his legs. She swiftly skated past both Decepticons on wheels that had taken over from her feet. She managed to dodge most of the attacks, giving the Autobots a chance to fight back. 8-bit and Prowl both had an end of the lamppost each and ran at Blitzwing, pinning him to a tree, running around to tie the lamppost around the large frame. While the two were distracted by the movement, Lugnut took his chance to attack 8-bit. He swung a fist at her, hitting her across the park. She skidded on her side before hitting the concrete fountain and falling unconscious from the hit. The team eventually fought off the cons while Ratchet turned to check on 8-bit.

Optimus knelt down beside Ratchet. "How is she?"

"Just knocked out. Should wake up on her own in a while." Ratchet sighed in relief.

8-bit was now curled up on a berth next to ZiZi in the med bay. Crash sat in between the two, amused at ZiZi's incoherent babble. In his worry, he'd reopened a wound on his torso from trying to move about and get away from Crash's stern hold. Ratchet had to give him something to relax him, which made him now lay his stomach, giggling. Crash softly placed a servo on the back of ZiZi's helm, softly running his thumb over it.

"Overprotective fool." Crash sighed.

"Is he usually protective?" Ratchet asked.

"Yep." Crash smiled fondly down at ZiZi, who rolled onto his side.

"Ah wuv thee!" he shouted, pointing to Crash.

"Yes, I love you too. Now get some recharge before you utter anymore nonsense . ." Crash laughed, pushing ZiZi down.

Both Crash and Ratchet left the two to recharge peacefully. But it was just after they settled down themselves that the lights started to flicker. Everyone just passed it off as a faulty bulb that could be repaired in the morning.

Until they heard a piercing scream.

Lazer-eye and Crash instantly flew out of the berths and ran back to the med bay, followed by the rest of the team. They found ZiZi holding 8-bit close to his chassis. She was shaking terribly with coolant tears streaming down her face. The screen of Ratchet's scanner was also broke, a spider-web like crack spread across it. Lazer-eye was on the other side of 8-bit, rubbing her back softly.

"What happened?" Optimus asked.

"I'm guessing she had a nightmare again." Crash stared worriedly at the trio. "ZiZi?"

"She almost done it again." ZiZi cried, holding her closer.

8-bit wrapped her arms tightly around her guardian, comforting both herself and ZiZi. She buried her face into his neck. ZiZi only just managed to calm himself as Crash stepped forward and pulled ZiZi to sit on his own berth. He snuggled close to the much larger bot while 8-bit reluctantly moved to lean on her own sister. She watched as ZiZi settled in Crash's arms, feeling upset because she'd scared ZiZi to the brink of tears.

"Talk to him later when you've both calmed down." Lazer-eye softly whispered


	5. Chapter 5

**So so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry for the huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge gap inbetween uploading these**

**I've been so busy that I actually forgot all about them.**

**I had to include this ridiculous mess to go along with the series and I needed to include the Elite Guard sometime. 8-bit is going to have fun.**

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><p><em><strong>The Elite Guard<strong>_

"How often are these nightmares?" Optimus asked ZiZi as they both watched the monitors, introducing the newcomer to the outside world.

"They aren't frequent. But they're really bad when they happen." ZiZi mumbled, still slightly scared for the femme.

"How do you help?" Optimus asked. "So we know what to do when neither of you are around."

"Best thing to do is to hold her when she wakes up. She loves hugs and contact over reassurance. We can't find what causes them so we can't prevent it." ZiZi sighed. "But once she's figured out that it was just a dream, she's perfectly fine."

Optimus nodded, turning back to the monitors. Everything seemed too quiet.

"We need to help with the clean up after our battle with Megatron." Optimus started to walk off, leaving ZiZi alone.

"Mind if we join you?" ZiZi offered, chasing after the mech.

Optimus shrugged with a smile, "Why not?"

Everyone helped out with restoring parts of the city. The four newcomers had picked their new alt. modes on the way to the clean up. Crash had a pickup truck, close to Bulkhead's form since they were both a similar build in height. ZiZi chose a slick, white sports car with a blue racing stripe, bordered by black. Lazer-eye and 8-bit both had to small sports cars that were similar to Bumblebee's, except in black with gold rims. 8-bit was only allowed to hold things up as she almost dropped a few large pieces of concrete on her pedes. She had also tried to say hello to a few people, who screamed and turned to take a different route around the construction. Optimus told the twins to go and explore for a while after seeing the confused and hurt look on 8-bit's faceplates.

It wasn't long after that when the police cars rushed past the Autobots.

"Follow them!" Optimus ordered.

They transformed and followed the police cars, much to Captain Fanzone's displeasure. A ship had landed in a large open area, in the middle of the city. Optimus instantly recognised the ship, curling his lip plate in distaste. The Autobots transformed back into their bipedal modes and watched the ship's ramp slide down. Three bots calmly walked to the middle of the ramp. Optimus walked forward, saluting to the group. Crash glanced at ZiZi's twitching mouth plate, in confusion at the amused glare from the visor. ZiZi was trying to stay serious in front of the higher ranked bots in front of them. The group were called forward onto the ship after a force field was summoned around the ship, preventing anyone going in or out. Once they were in, ZiZi commed Lazer-eye:

"Keep 8-bit away. The Elite Guard are here."

"That won't be a problem. She's entertained." Lazer-eye smiled at her sister, who was standing knee-deep on a pond, trying to catch fish.

"Good." ZiZi nodded to himself.

He smirked widely and snuck around Crash and Bulkhead. He crouched low, walking beside Optimus, who frowned at him. ZiZi just placed a finger to his lip plates, silently telling Optimus to be quiet. After a few seconds, ZiZi attempted to kick the black and white mech's back. The other mech spun around, catching ZiZi's pede and held it up high. ZiZi bounced, glaring at the mech, trying to keep his balance on one pede.

"Aw come on!" ZiZi shrieked. "Once! Just once!"

"Can't do that." The mech shrugged. "ZiZi, you'll never get past my ninja sense."

"Son of a glitch." ZiZi mumbled, now balanced on one pede.

"For that, I'm not letting go." The mech smirked, still walking as ZiZi hopped behind him.

Crash whispered to the group. "They're brothers. I think."

The team and the Elite Guard hid behind boxes as the police crones fired at them. Sentinel had used his shield to protect just him and Ultra Magnus. They were struggling to contain the drones, which didn't stop coming. Optimus took most of the shots, leaning over Sari to protect her. ZiZi and Jazz fought back to back, like they used to against trouble.

"We've got to shut down that program!" Ratchet shouted/

"And how do we plan on doing that?" Bumblebee shrieked, only just dodging a shot.

"Lazer-eye!" ZiZi shouted over the comms. "Get your aft here now!"

Optimus's axe flew in-between the tiny gap between ZiZi and Jazz, surprising all the bots. Optimus was still stuck to the ground, covering Sari. The axe flew back like a boomerang, changing to an electrically charged sword as it spun. Lazer-eye caught the handle, spinning to slice a few drones.

"You took your time!" ZiZi exclaimed.

"Well sorry! Next time I'll leave you to die, shall I?" Lazer-eye shot back.

"Don't start fighting each other and fight the drones!" Crash scolded the pair.

"Prowl! Help me get Sari to the control room!" Optimus ordered.

"Where's 8-bit?" ZiZi whispered to Lazer-eye.

She shrugged in response, earning a glare from ZiZi. Ultra Magnus had dismissed them, so they were all on their way back to the plant. They were all in the main room, watching a film on the large TV.

8-bit was sat on the roof, staring out at the buildings of Detroit. She missed the farm. She missed the fields. She missed the bots, especially Blurr. Most of all, as she thought back to her previous life, she missed her parents. Or parent. A coolant tear slid out of her optic at the memories.

"8-bit?" Prowl called softly, not to scare her. "Your sister's looking for you."

8-bit shrugged, wiping her optics. Prowl frowned in concern and sat beside her.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly.

She shook her head, more tears falling. Prowl sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get anything out of her. Instead, he pulled her into him, letting her lean on him for comfort. She let her helm drop onto his shoulders.

"Watch the colours the sky makes." Prowl whispered.

8-bit sat up straight, wiping her optics, her expression changing to wonder.

"It's a sunset. I'm always up here watching its beauty." Prowl smiled.


End file.
